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16 - The Spread of Pama-Nyungan in Australia

from Part IV - New Guinea and Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2020

By
Patrick McConvell
Edited by
Tom Güldemann ,
Patrick McConvell  and
Richard A. Rhodes
Tom Güldemann
Affiliation:
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Patrick McConvell
Affiliation:
Australian National University, Canberra
Richard A. Rhodes
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
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Summary

In contrast to all the other continents discussed in this volume, Australia’s hunter-gatherers did not share, or contend for, the land with indigenous cultivators or pastoralists. The foraging economy reigned exclusively throughout the history of human habitation until the catastrophic events of conquest and settlement by the British caused its collapse within the last 200 years. Certainly there were differences between the way the indigenous people of Australia gained a living from the land in different regions, from more to less mobile, which will enter the picture as we focus our discussion here.

Type
Chapter
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The Language of Hunter-Gatherers , pp. 422 - 462
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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